Earth Networks’ WeatherBug mobile app is the first to allow consumers to see, in real-time, how weather impacts their current energy usage in order to make smarter home energy efficiency and utility costs decisions. Integrated smart home technology today is restricted to what is happening in the home, but 50% of a home’s energy usage is driven by the weather. The app integrates weather ‘big data’ (Earth Networks has the world's largest network of weather, climate, and lightning sensors), connected thermostats, and utility meter data – a fundamentally different smart home approach that extends the ‘smart home’ outside of the home to create a “smarter consumer.”
From within the WeatherBug mobile app, consumers can now connect to their preferred smart home services – including connected thermostat providers such as Honeywell and Nest, and open smart home platform partner Samsung SmartThings, as well as utility data from Accelerated Innovations’ MyMeter. Once connected, consumers gain access to predictive energy usage and costs and unmatched insights that empower consumers to control and optimize their energy efficiency and costs, while maintaining comfort and safety — all from the palm of their hand.
Another key app differentiator is its ability to leverage WeatherBug’s thermodynamic model approach. WeatherBug’s thermostat temperature analytics estimate daily and monthly HVAC costs, as well as energy use, by thermodynamically modeling energy used against current and forecasted weather. This thermodynamic model approach enables significant energy efficiency savings and intelligent demand response through the optimization and automated control of HVAC systems, appliances and more. National Grid released a study finding WeatherBug’s capabilities deliver 3x higher consumer energy efficiency, with 11.4 percent more saved on home cooling when its capabilities integrate with a connected thermostat.
The WeatherBug Home capability within the app was built to become a consumer’s smart home ‘hub’ that integrates weather data (Earth Networks’ proprietary cloud processes 25 terabytes of real-time weather data every day) with the industry’s most extensive ecosystem of smart home partners – ranging from thermostats, light bulbs, washer & dryers and hot water heaters, to utility smart meters. As a result, Earth Networks is positioned to deliver on the promise of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the power of big data analytics.
In addition to these smart home features, the WeatherBug app also delivers the industry’s most localized weather information, with weather data from sensors in the user’s own neighborhood. A key differentiator is the app’s first-of-its-kind Spark™ feature, which provides a real-time lightning strike map showing minute-by-minute, mile-by-mile lightning proximity alerts on a user’s smartphone – in effect turning the user’s smartphone into a personal lightning detector.